A CORONER has ruled that a recovering drug addict administered a fatal heroin injection himself despite a claim that he was deliberately injected by two friends.

Simon John Owen, 30, was found dead at his flat in Halkyn Road, Hoole, on June 28 last year next to a needle and a number of items of drug paraphernalia.

Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said there was no evidence to back up claims made by Michael Smith in a statement to police that two of Mr Owen's friends had 'knocked him out' and given him the drug.

Simon Pigott, one of the men accused of this along with another friend, Tony Carroll, denied the allegation and said: 'Simon was a friend. I would never hurt him.'

Detective Constable Ian Wilson, who took the statement from Mr Smith four months after the death and investigated the case, was also present at the Chester hearing.

He said: 'There was little evidence to corroborate what Mr Smith said. It would have taken a considerable blow to knock Simon Owen unconscious due to his size and build.

'There would have been substantial injury present at the post-mortem examination and that wasn't the case.' Mr Rheinberg recorded that Mr Owen died as a result of non-dependent use of drugs and decided the fatal injection was administered by Mr Owen himself.

'I am satisfied on the evidence of Mr Pigott and DC Wilson that there is no substance in what Mr Smith has stated and one is left to speculate as to why Mr Smith made these false allegations some four months after the death of Mr Owen,' he said.

Mr Pigott, a window cleaner from Crewe, found Mr Owen's body after he called round to help his friend move flat.

He told the inquest that he knocked but got no answer, and assuming Mr Owen had carried out the move himself, went to his new flat.

'I went into the room and that's when I found him,' he said. 'At first I could only see his legs and next to him was a needle and a spoon.

'I checked his pulse and then phoned for an ambulance.'

The inquest heard that on the night before his death, Mr Owen had seemed upset after a row with his girlfriend, when the pair were in the Ermine pub in Hoole.

Mr Pigott said: 'He walked off. I ran after him to see what was the matter.

That's when he told me about his girlfriend. You could see he was upset. He was crying.'

Mr Owen said he wanted to be on his own so Mr Pigott returned to the pub.

Toxicology reports revealed Mr Owen died from opiate poisoning and showed Mr Owen's blood had traces of several drugs, including methadone and cocaine, and also contained morphine.

At a previous hearing Countess of Chester Hospital consultant pathologist, Dr William Kenyon, said although the level of morphine was relatively low, it could be fatal in someone whose tolerance to drugs had deteriorated.